Shloka 20

अव्यक्तकालमान-निर्णयः

Measures of Time from the Unmanifest; Creation, Elements, and the Primacy of Mind

Devanagari script

नाहं शप्त: प्रतिशपामि कंचिद्‌ दम द्वारं हामृतस्येह वेझि । गुहां ब्रह्म तदिदं ब्रवीमि न मानुषाच्छेछतरं हि किंचित्‌

Transliteration

nāhaṁ śaptaḥ pratiśapāmi kañcid dama-dvāraṁ hy amṛtasyeha viddhi | guhāṁ brahma tad idaṁ bravīmi na mānuṣāc chreṣṭhataraṁ hi kiñcit ||

Translation

हंस उवाच—नाहं शप्तः प्रतिशपामि कञ्चिद्; दमं मोक्षद्वारममृतस्याहुरिह। अद्य वः गुह्यतमं ब्रह्म ब्रवीमि—न मानुषात् श्रेष्ठतरं हि किञ्चित्॥

Word by Word

• {'nāham': 'I do not', 'śaptaḥ': 'cursed', 'pratiśapāmi': 'I curse in return

• I counter-curse', 'kañcit': 'anyone', 'dama': 'self-control

• restraint of the senses and mind', 'dvāram': 'door

• gateway', 'amṛtasya': 'of immortality

• of the deathless state (mokṣa)', 'iha': 'here

• in this world/teaching context', 'viddhi': 'know

• understand', 'guhām': 'a secret

• hidden teaching', 'brahma': 'Brahman

• the Absolute reality', 'tad idam': 'this very (truth)', 'bravīmi': 'I say

• I declare', 'mānuṣāt': 'than the human (state/birth)', 'śreṣṭhataraṁ': 'more excellent

• superior', 'hi': 'indeed', 'kiñcit': 'anything'}

Speaker

हंस उवाच

Characters & Entities

• हंस (Haṁsa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not retaliate with harm even when harmed; cultivate dama (self-restraint), because mastery of the senses and mind is presented as the doorway to amṛtatva—liberation. The verse also elevates human birth as uniquely suited for realizing Brahman.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic setting within Śānti Parva, the Haṁsa speaks as a spiritual instructor, declaring a personal ethic of non-retaliation, then revealing a ‘secret’ doctrinal point: self-control leads to immortality (mokṣa), and the human state is the most advantageous for this pursuit.